Energy usage information standards to be developed by NAESB

Knoxville, TN, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- June 30, 2010 - The North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) is to develop a basic energy usage data model standard, with a commitment to complete the standard before the end of 2010.

The standard, which will define the information used to communicate between utilities (and other sources) and the customer, and how that information is organized, will allow utilities and customers to exchange detailed electricity usage and cost information in a consistent format. This will enable consumers to track their electricity usage and to help them decide how to manage their energy consumption and costs.

The standard is number ten of sixteen priority action plans (PAP10: Standard Energy Usage Information) identified by the National Institute of Standards & Technology in its smart grid interoperability framework.

“This standard is essential to provide the foundational energy usage data structure for the smart grid,” stated David Wollman, NIST lead for PAP10.

As part of the initiative the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) will lead a parallel activity to extend the NAESB model to create a facilities data model that provides additional energy usage data elements for commercial and industrial buildings (such as lighting, heating, air conditioning and other electrical loads).

The prospective standard is expected to also create opportunities for innovation. With utilities now installing smart meters in their millions, established companies and start-ups are developing new products and services tailored to the energy use behaviors and objectives of consumers. Without a standardized format for organizing and presenting this information, there is the danger that a confusing variety of approaches would emerge leading to incompatibilities among energy management products and services that would reduce gains in energy efficiency and impede other anticipated benefits of the smart grid.

PAP10 will be a single limited scope information model, and will not cover all interactions associated with energy in the home or commercial space. For example, to support load management additional standard information models will be necessary. Additionally, the proposed standard will be limited to defining an information model only. The implementation of messaging using the model and the syntax by which messaging is encoded will be left to bodies that use the “seed” standard.

The standard will be based on IEC’s common information model (CIM), and input will include the information modeling efforts within the ZigBee® Alliance’s ZigBee Smart Energy™ version 2.0, the EIS Alliance’s systems requirements, and OpenADE.